Banners dropped in #Philadelphia, "condemning BlackRock for their investment in both the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Elbit Systems."

#StopMVP #NoMVP

Some early observations about Bluesky:

• People are having fun. People clearly missed using Twitter to shitpost.
• There are no norms yet. Nobody uses content warnings, nor is there a built-in feature for content warnings.
• Nobody uses alt text. Nobody gets scolded for not using alt text. Right now, Bluesky seems like a nightmare for blind and low-vision people.
• It's eery to see known abusers on Bluesky who I've had blocked for years, without the ability to block them.
• It's only a matter of days before violent right-wing accounts like A*dy Ng* show up on Bluesky. They WILL be allowed on, and they WILL build large followings, and the content moderation and privacy tools of Bluesky are not yet up to the task.

* Make software that works on older devices, the older the better.
* Make software that will keep on working for a very long time.
* Make software that uses the least amount of total energy to achieve its results.
* Make software that also uses the least amount of network data transfer, memory and storage.
* Make software that encourages the user to use it in a frugal way.

#FrugalComputing

A gentle reminder that IoT, health tech, and other devices are accessibility devices for many people.

Yes, the stove with WiFi.
Yes, the heart rate tracker.
Yes, the camera on the door.
Yes, the speech assistant.

Abstinence-only education doesn't work for infosec either.
You can only help to create alternatives if you acknowledge that disabled people exist, use tech, and understand privacy.

Don't be condescending. Be curious.

Introducing you to Takoma Park, MD elementary school librarian Charles Sutherland, who took it upon himself to spray-paint GROOMER on two public libraries during Pride week - likely because the libraries held Pride events.

What did police find when they searched the home of Sutherland - a single man with no children, nieces, or nephews?
-diapers
-children's dolls
-a child-sized, life-like doll, in Sutherland's bed
-child porn on his laptop
News report:
https://www.sourceofthespring.com/takoma-park-news/2804290/takoma-park-man-arrested-for-possession-of-child-pornography/

Sutherland is number 113 on our list of bigots, fascists, and far-right extremists who are also child sex predators:
https://antifainternational.tumblr.com/post/170045856829/our-updated-list-of-racists-bigots-far-right

When far-right extremists scream about groomers, it's #projection

So Bluesky launched a public beta with no way to block abusers and aggressive weirdos, then explained it was because they didn’t see that sort of moderation as important enough to be included in the basic design.

I find it very difficult to understand how, after the past, oh, 20 years or so, anyone could even think of designing a social media protocol without making strong moderation a major part of the system from the get.

Looks like leading tech publication Ars Technica are de-Twitterfying themselves. No more Twitter (or Facebook) links at the bottom of articles, nor in writer biographies. They’ve also joined Mastodon.social, but have not yet set up their own server.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/04/twitter-rival-blueskys-popularity-surges-because-well-you-know-why/?comments=1&post=41828820